The implicit risk of longevity is, without a doubt, one of the greatest challenges that health systems will face and that forces pharmaceutical companies to work to accelerate innovation and guarantee patient access to highly specialized products, recognizes David Pinho , Country Head of Sanofi Mexico.
Another challenge, he says, is to improve the adherence of patients to their treatments in order to reduce hospitalizations and the cost they imply for the health system. “We are going to live longer and the system cannot be overloaded. As a pharmaceutical industry, we have a mission to improve that adherence to treatment, ”she points out.
The McKinsey report suggests that people could improve their quality of life by six years, on average, in the next decade. To achieve this, she points out, the empowerment of people as the main ‘managers of their health’ will be crucial and suggests considering that consumer expectations are now defined by “experiences of speed, convenience, personalization and access to information” .
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Sanofi in Mexico
Sanofi Mexico’s growth strategy goes along these lines. “We want to promote self-care, how to make it relevant -through doctors- for people to take care of their health,” says Eduardo Ruelas, interim general manager of Consumer Healthcare (CHC) of Sanofi Mexico, one of the four most relevant business units for French biopharmaceutical.
“In 2021, we grew in single digits, driven by strong growth in our Consumer Unit,” highlights Pinho, who is also the leader of the General Medicines unit, a business that contributes 40% of sales and includes drugs such as Aprovasc and Aprovel (blood pressure control) and Profenid (rheumatoid arthritis).
CHC’s portfolio, on the other hand, is made up of over-the-counter drugs (OTC), such as Allegra, Sinuberase and Histiacil, and, according to Ruelas, since last year it has been the leader in the segment, according to with the sector consultant IQVIA. “In 2021 we had around 164 million euros and for this year, our goal is to be around 175 million euros, as a business unit,” says the also commercial leader of CHC for Latin America.
For this year, the company predicts a result similar to that of 2021, driven, once again, by growth above 10% in the CHC and highly specialized units. This last vertical integrates immunology, oncology and multiple sclerosis solutions, among others, and contributes 5% of revenues in Mexico; but globally it generated 36.8% of the 9,674 million euros that Sanofi sold in the first quarter of the year, 8.6% more than in the 2021 period.
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Part of the formula
Sanofi has been in the country for 93 years and has three production plants, all in the State of Mexico. The largest is in Ocoyoacac and houses the company’s four divisions, but only manufactures OTC and General Medicines drugs; of the other two divisions (High Specialty and Vaccines), it only receives, prepares and distributes the orders.